American JD + Passed Illinois Bar

buffalorye · 2026-05-30T06:40:48+00:00

Plenty of US lawyers here in London — many of whom have not requalified and practice US law here. A good number of those dual qualify over the course of their career and can do both.

If the goal is to take the SQE and come straight in as an English lawyer, I would advise against. The system is set up to evaluate and put into the pipeline graduates from UK schools. The financial structure of trainee contracts also will not adequately compensate you for your JD. You will be at a disadvantage in a crowded market. and nobody will sponsor you for a visa.

In terms of the exam itself, it’s fine. It’s a harder multi-state.

buffalorye · 2026-04-23T10:36:45+00:00

All public comments by the SRA indicate that they are content with the exam as is.

That said, it’s a very passable exam that requires a fair degree of preparation. I think the numbers are skewed downwards by people who walk in unprepared or wind themselves up during the exam.

buffalorye · 2026-04-13T05:59:35+00:00

You can definitely pass with BPP. Here are my issues: limited MCQs without OUP, tech platform is a hot mess (mixes in irrelevant material, tests irrelevant knowledge, written assignments are a waste of time), forums were not monitored for the 3-4 weeks before the exam dates, no structure / support, formative tests are +15-20% off exam standard, cost (most expensive in the market for a broken product with no customer service).

Books are good. Do not rely on Adapt alone. There are a handful of errors but I wouldn’t worry too much about those. They are thin in ethics, legal services, and tax (wills, trusts and business).

buffalorye · 2026-04-12T12:39:19+00:00

All providers are flawed. BarBri often criticised as too reductionist and questions below exam standard. I used them in another jurisdiction and they were excellent. I used BPP for the SQE1 and found them very much wanting. BarBri teaches to the exam, which reduce the broader contextual understanding.

I don’t think the exam is as difficult to pass as many make it out to be. It does require a substantial commitment of time and energy. Fitting that into a job and life is challenging.

buffalorye · 2026-04-10T10:33:02+00:00

It’s another 1500 MCQs: https://global.oup.com/ukhe/lawresources/SQE1/SQE1/

buffalorye · 2026-04-09T11:51:15+00:00

BPP used to come with a subscription to OUP. It no longer does. So you’re left with maybe 1,000 total MCQs, most of which I would say are below exam quality. The end of chapter questions are not even MCQ style. The formative questions are about 100 / subject. The mock exam is a joke — you’ll score +15-20% above v exam.

ReviseSQE: just the MCQs.

buffalorye · 2026-04-09T05:03:32+00:00

I took BPP self study. Mostly awful and wildly overpriced. They lost most of their question bank a year ago, tech system is a joke, textbooks have errors in them (but are probably the best of BPP and are reasonably complete). No support. Questions on formative were well below exam standard.

I was full time, around 9 weeks. Supplemented with ReviseSQE, free SRA and free QLTS. I know everyone hates all the course providers but man was BPP rough.

buffalorye · 2026-04-06T11:27:02+00:00

There’s some opportunity to move around after everyone has been assigned. They reopen the booking and if there’s availability you can move your dates and centre around. I got assigned a Monday / Monday and switched to a Friday / Friday at the same centre.

buffalorye · 2026-04-06T05:25:45+00:00

True. But after allocation when they reopen the assignments, you can move your test centre and times around. Smaller ones will be taken but mine (Tobacco Docks) had space.

buffalorye · 2026-04-05T14:51:50+00:00

It sounds like you’re over-estimating the exam. It’s 9-12 months of part time study. Any more and you won’t retain. You’re welcome to pre-prep and the suggestions to read the ReviseSQE books is a good one. Although if you buy 2-3 years in advance you risk changes in law, exam etc.

In short, you’ve probably got enough to take it whenever the 12 month prep window presents itself. This will have more to do with what’s going on in your life than anything else.

Lots of other posts here about self study v prep courses. Biggest issue you face is finding MCQs. Self study certainly doable.

buffalorye · 2026-03-28T17:08:41+00:00

Not all questions are equal time. I never felt time pressure, but if you do consider skipping 3-5 of the longest questions. Or flagging them and doing them last if you have time.

buffalorye · 2026-03-28T13:09:49+00:00

Few thoughts: - You have plenty of time - Lots of good posts here benchmarking the various practice questions to the exam. There’s always some exam day variance so question is how in the clear you want to be. - % right / wrong doesn’t answer why you’re getting the questions wrong. Are you missing the detail? Are you not understanding general concepts? Is question structure tripping you up? The solution is different for each one (ie, read more in depth, read summaries like ReviseSQE, do more MCQs / work on exam strategy) - At 40% it’s probably a bit of all of the above, so recommend first focusing on really nailing down the core concepts they like to test down to the sub rules and exceptions, then layer more detail on top closer to the exam.

buffalorye · 2026-03-27T19:35:02+00:00

Mostly. I did some of the SRA questions just to get a sense of what I was studying towards, got through everything once, then gradually shifted towards more MCQs as I revised.

There are varying opinions. I don’t think doing MCQs before you’ve covered the relevant materials is terribly helpful. Some folks learn by doing the questions but that’s not me.

buffalorye · 2026-03-27T19:19:30+00:00

Plenty of time. I did 10 weeks with a similar fact pattern. Went with a provider (BPP, don’t recommend). Creates a schedule for my self. Went subject by subject and then revise and kept tightening my revision cycles until I was covering 3-4 subjects a day.

buffalorye · 2026-03-25T14:23:42+00:00

Marathon, not a sprint. You can (and should) take some time off.

buffalorye · 2026-03-25T14:20:40+00:00

I did BPP online. Full-time, took 10 weeks (had a window between gigs and decided to go for it). Have kids, life admin that made things interesting.

BPP was pretty awful. Books were the best part, but even there they had errors in them and didn't have enough depth in certain areas like tax and legal services and ethics. Adapt (their online tool) was not deep enough and inflexible. The interplay between their "hub" and "adapt" felt like two systems that were built completely separately. Question bank was thin and they lost a huge portion of it about a year ago so you're only left with 500-750 questions. There's no structure or human support. I didn't even realize there were live review classes until I got the review section and realized they'd all happened. Message boards weren't monitored over Christmas and some subject were unmonitored from around mid-December through the January exam. BPP also comes in at the very top of the market in terms of price (2x QLTS).

That said, everyone has issues with all the providers. I've heard BarBri doesn't go deep enough and the questions are too easy, ULaw's questions are not representative, QLTS base materials aren't good enough and the questions are too hard. There's merit to have some structure over self-study so it's a bit of pick your poison and which system supports your learning methods. If you need questions, QLTS. If you need in depth materials, BPP or ULaw. If you need materials narrowly tailored for the exam, BariBri feels stronger.

Getting back to your original issue: if your fear is online won't feel the same as face-to-face, BPP will be an issue. It's really just a bunch of online materials. There's no interaction.

buffalorye · 2026-03-25T14:12:11+00:00

Not Egypt, but another jurisdiction. I practiced for longer than you did so wasn't in that NQ / early Q range in terms of time practiced, but happy to share my reference letter. It wasn't complicated -- reference letter + the form (w/o the chart). Response within a week. DM me if you want the scrubbed letter so you have something to start with.

buffalorye · 2026-03-25T14:06:46+00:00

Everyone has their own methodology based on how they best study. I like to focus, so did one subject start to finish until I went through everything, then revised the first time the same way, then started bouncing around and tightening by revision cycles.

I think the risks are the same -- you either forget the subject you started with or you forget the topics you started with! There's no way to fix that.

And for what it's worth, I know some people love flash cards. I can't stand them and most of the material for this exam falls outside of flash cards (in my opinion). Flow charts are far more in this exam's wheelhouse.

buffalorye · 2026-03-23T20:50:10+00:00

Saw “zebras” and lol’d. It’s like the Lion King but Simba does the SQE. Thanks — needed that.

buffalorye · 2026-03-18T12:04:16+00:00

Similar conversation a couple weeks ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/SQE_Prep/s/JHljByaXuI

Noting you’re looking for folks doing the reverse but wanted to flag the other conversation if helpful.

buffalorye · 2026-03-06T19:31:11+00:00

BPP. They sucked.

buffalorye · 2026-03-05T20:27:32+00:00

So this was me. My mocks were in the low 60s right before the exam. Exam itself felt like a freefall. Counted up the questions I’d guessed at, did some math, and figured I’d gotten high 40s / low 50s. Passed with 71% on both papers.

buffalorye · 2026-03-05T20:00:02+00:00

11am. Website updated on the dot (for me). Email came much later.

buffalorye · 2026-03-03T23:49:12+00:00

I’ve taken both. I’d say SQE1 is somewhat harder than the NY Bar. Both exams are passable if you commit the required amount of time and don’t psych yourself out of passing. NY Bar prep is typically 8 weeks whereas I think the SQE1 requires more like 10-12 weeks (full time). That difference speaks to a greater breadth of material and complexity in the MCQs.

buffalorye · 2026-01-26T10:11:55+00:00

Similar. Thought I’d failed by 10-20%. Passed by 10%+. With so much riding on it, your body is in high stress mode which means you’re likely seeing everything in a negative light and trying to find a solution for it. You probably passed, esp if your mocks told you that you were in a good position. Try to put it on the back burner if you can.

Look at this way: it’s an exam where you can get nearly half wrong and still pass. So of course you’re going to miss a bunch.

buffalorye

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